HHS Releases National Pain Strategy

A National Pain Strategy that outlines the federal government’s first coordinated plan for reducing the burden of chronic pain has been released.

The report, issued by the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), comes on the heels of new opioid prescribing guidelines released recently by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Key elements of the new pain strategy include education and care by providers, as well as prevention, says Linda Porter, PhD, director, National Institute of Health’s (NIH’s) Office of Pain Policy, and co-chair of the Interagency Pain Research Coordinating Committee (IPRCC) working group that helped develop the report.